After the Panda update, article directories are losing their importance. Article directories produce duplicate content which may impact your rankings in a negative way. http://www.keywordcountry.com/blog/google-optimization/rules-of-high-rankings-changed-surviving-google-panda-update/As far as backlinks from such websites are concerned these are bunch of low quality backlinks.

Instead, opt blogging... It helps you in creating quality content. This helps in adding new content on your website and thus improving your SERP rankings. Also, it helps in improving reputation of your website.